NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

Hello,

I just joined the forum today. I submitted my first story to WofF for Q4 and earned an HM. =)

I have a few stories lined up for Q1, but I think one of them is much too dark.

It's great to be back into writing. I took a five year hiatus to start a family and poured about 12 years into two very long novels before that, with lots of rewriting. Nothing published yet, but I just started seriously trying this year. I'd never really considered becoming a professional writer, though I had sent out the occasional submission over the years. I could kick myself now, for not taking it more seriously when I had a lot more time, but such is life.

So I guess that sums it up. I love writing, but I think everyone on this site feels the same way.

-Jeanette Sanders

Welcome to you, morshana! Your first contest entry winning an HM is certainly a promising start and one to rejoice in! Definitely you should keep writing and entering!

That's the key -- persistence!

Most folks beginning to write imagine a quick overnight success (ha! I did! suckah!) -- a few get that sort of fireworks right from the start, we know -- but most who eventually succeed do the patient work and buckle in and go for the steady, slow rocket ride to their dreamt of futures.

So, welcome, and best of luck, and hard work will take you farther and last longer than luck anyway!

Hello, Jeanette, and welcome to the forum!

Welcome aboard, Jeanette! It's always a good time to start back up again. Look forward to results, not backward to regrets.

Thank you, all, for the warm welcome.

Yes. I will look forward. Keep writing. "Never give up, never surrender!" =)

-Jeanette

Thank you, all, for the warm welcome.

Yes. I will look forward. Keep writing. "Never give up, never surrender!" =)

-Jeanette

By Grabthar's Hammer, you will ... you will ... Keep writing!

Thank you, all, for the warm welcome.

Yes. I will look forward. Keep writing. "Never give up, never surrender!" =)

-Jeanette

Galaxy Quest, eh?

Welcome aboard.

Welcome, Jeanette!

Thank you, all, for the warm welcome.

Yes. I will look forward. Keep writing. "Never give up, never surrender!" =)

-Jeanette

Galaxy Quest, eh?

Welcome aboard.

I don't know why, but whenever I think of never giving up, that line pops into my head.

Rebecca - We will be avenged!

E.CaimanSands - Thanks!

Hello,
I am a native of Central Montana but I currently call Utah home. I strive, with varying degrees of sucess, to balance my time between work, writing, and my family.
I have an unquenchable passion for life. It is this passion that drives me to write and share that with the world. I am no stranger to writing. I have written several short stories, short plays, poems, and took a shot at song lyrics. I worked for a short time as a newspaper correspondent for two central Montana newpapers and I have done freelance writing for SEO projects, artist bios, and web sites.

The Enemy Within is my debut novel and I am aiming to have it self published or with a traditional publisher within the next few months. My current entry will be my second submission to WoTF. My first one mysteriously disappeared I am presuming into the "You Wish" file.

Lynette White http://www.whitefantasy.net/

Welcome aboard, Lynette!

Hi, Lynette! Welcome, and good luck with everything you're up to!

Welcome to you, Lynette! As you may know, Utah is one of the focal points and ley line nexuses(es) of WotF-winning energy! Perhaps there is something in the water (other than salt) !

Welcome aboard!

I don't know why, but whenever I think of never giving up, that line pops into my head.

That reminds me of a plagiarism bit from The Daily Show (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-may-18-2006/borrowed-time). There is a Paris Hilton joke that some may find offensive, so view at your own risk. The part that is apropos to the Galaxy Quest quote begins at about 1:55 (after the racy part). Welcome all!

I don't know why, but whenever I think of never giving up, that line pops into my head.

That reminds me of a plagiarism bit from The Daily Show (http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-may-18-2006/borrowed-time). There is a Paris Hilton joke that some may find offensive, so view at your own risk. The part that is apropos to the Galaxy Quest quote begins at about 1:55 (after the racy part). Welcome all!

Hahaha. We have no original thoughts!

Hi, All!

I just registered this morning after lurking for a week or two.

I'm a 40-something who's working on a dissertation in psychology / cognitive science of religion. I write non-fiction for a living at the moment, so if I'm writing fiction, it's because I'm procrastinating on my dissertation or my paying work.

I entered WOTF a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away back when there was no internet (at least for civilians) and Luke Skywalker was some podunk farm kid whining about power converters. In those days, I wrote stories longhand, in pencil, on notebook paper, often when I was supposed to be paying attention in class. I only entered once, got rejected and never entered again. I don't even remember which story it was.

As a grown-up, I headed off to academia, where my writing is alternately described as "sprightly" (which is good), "breezy and journalistic" (which is not good if you're an academic) and "too clear and direct" (so, what - you want me to go back and muck it up?).

So after spending some 20 years writing curriculum and academic stuff, I was a little surprised to find stories pressing their noses up against the glass. Kinda cool, really, but rather distracting when I'm supposed to be writing about Freudian themes in the work of William Styron or boundary measures and personality factors as they correlate with length of gestation.

Anyhow, my stuff tends to be high fantasy or slipstream-y with the occasional deviation in to hard-ish SF. I say hard-ish because my stuff is usually character-driven, so while the SF may be hard, it takes a backseat to the character issues.

Cheers!

Kary James

Welcome aboard, Kary! And thank you for clear and direct academic writing. I would wear that "criticism" as a badge of honor!

Welcome Lynette and Kary!

I only recently found this forum and joined a few days ago. Feels like a very friendly, helpful community. I joined the online critique group Critters a few months ago and though the critiques are great, I find there isn't much community there. Perhaps I'm just too new to that site?

It's nice to find other writers interested in chatting. =)

Critters doesn't have much in the way of community and there are a couple of reasons for that. For one, you can't see any of the crits on a given story (unless you're the author) until the Saturday after the crit window ends. The moderator over there says that's to prevent folks from prejudicing their reaction to a story by reading the crits first. I can see the point of that (also prevents people from getting easy credit by saying the same stuff in slightly different words), but it does tend to inhibit general discussion.

Critters does have forums, but they're sort of structurally disconnected from the critiquing website. So while there's a specific forum for every single story where the author, critters and others could really go to town, it never happens. I wish it was easier to say something like "Someone suggested Y. What do the rest of you think?" but there's not an easy way to do that. I do, however, ask questions of my reviewers in single emails, though, if I think it wouldn't be too onerous for the reviewer to answer.

Thirdly, and I only know this from obsesso reading of everything I could find on the site, there was a dustup nearly a decade ago where posters, some of whom weren't even part of Critters, turned the forums into a constant flame zone. It got to the point where editors were telling people to avoid Critters, and/or saying that mentioning you'd been in Critters was a bad thing. Eventually, the moderator nuked the discussion platform, saying that while there were any number of places where writers could hang out, socialize and flame each other to bits if that's what they wanted, there weren't many places where one could get serious critiques. So to rescue the reputation of the workshop and preserve its function as a workshop, poof, no more discussions.

I email thank you notes to every person who crits one of my stories, so I've developed some behind-the-scenes friendships at Critters.

I think I'm going to like having a community here, though, for a variety of reasons. I'm guessing, but probably there are people here who are not on Critters. Bigger and more diverse sample. And I think that having the contest as the anchor point might provide a little more stability than a critique group, regardless of which group. People drop in and out of crit groups all the time. People outgrow crit groups. Possibly the same stuff happens here, but I could see myself staying in touch here even after I've moved on from a crit group.

*shrug* So there you go.

Critters doesn't have much in the way of community and there are a couple of reasons for that. For one, you can't see any of the crits on a given story (unless you're the author) until the Saturday after the crit window ends. The moderator over there says that's to prevent folks from prejudicing their reaction to a story by reading the crits first. I can see the point of that (also prevents people from getting easy credit by saying the same stuff in slightly different words), but it does tend to inhibit general discussion.

Yeah. I did take a look at the forums at Critters and noticed practically zero activity.

I've also started a few dialogs with fellow Critters behind-the-scenes. And I email thank yous to everyone who crits my stories. =)

Hm. I did not know that about the flaming at Critters. Makes sense as to the lack of a general forum there, though.

And regarding your final point, I agree that this forum feels more stable. There is the unifying contest, but people seem to stay in touch, even if they have won.

Again, I'm guessing, but I think the contest adds a nice dose of communitas, that whole cohort-unification-through-shared-ordeal sort of thing.

And I would add a smiley here except that I've just read the line of posts about smil/ey/ies, their uses and abuses. So I'll talk about Vernors instead. It's my grandmother's fault even though she meant well. Every time I had a stomach bug as a child, she gave me raw potatoes and Vernors for their reputed ability to calm a queasy stomach. Didn't work. So now I drink Canada Dry.

Every time I had a stomach bug as a child, she gave me raw potatoes and Vernors for their reputed ability to calm a queasy stomach. Didn't work. So now I drink Canada Dry.

Do you still eat raw potatoes? I can see giving Vernors when you're feeling crappy, but raw potatoes are just...raw and earthy.

Again, I'm guessing, but I think the contest adds a nice dose of communitas, that whole cohort-unification-through-shared-ordeal sort of thing.

And I would add a smiley here except that I've just read the line of posts about smil/ey/ies, their uses and abuses.

Yes: the contest unites us and the smiley tears us ashunder.

Such is the plight of the human psyche ...

Well, see, I can't say that I've ever had any desire to eat raw potatoes, period. So while I may have formed a similar association between uncooked spuds and heaving my guts out, I've not ever had the chance to find out. Ginger ale, on the other hand, is my beverage of choice in the fizzyglug department. Alas, diet Canada Dry is hard to find, so I'm usually stuck with colas unless I avoid the sitch altogether and go for iced tea.

Incidentally, I did my first year of undergrad at CMU. <---Michigan girl

So I'll talk about Vernors instead. It's my grandmother's fault even though she meant well. Every time I had a stomach bug as a child, she gave me raw potatoes and Vernors for their reputed ability to calm a queasy stomach. Didn't work. So now I drink Canada Dry.

I love raw potatoes. Haven't had them in years. Used to be when mom or dad would fry up potatoes, we kids would steal slices before they got fried.

Vernors, not so much. Once every few years I get a hankering for it, but it passes quickly.

Incidentally, I did my first year of undergrad at CMU. <---Michigan girl

Yay! Another Michigander to help us fend off those Okies!

Re: Michigander - I'm in CA now, but I'm a Michigander at heart. I took my Cali-native hubs back to MI to meet the extended family, and my aunt made pot roast with all the trimmings. They don't do pot roast so much out here in CA. He took a bite, leaned over and whispered, "What is this? And do you know how to make it?" See, I think CA cows don't grow the pot-roast bit. They must have been genetically modified to grow tri-tip instead. One of life's little mysteries, I guess.

Real conversation from camp:

Girl: Where are you from?

Me: Michigan.

Girl: Oh, is it nice in Canada? Do you have big cities there?

Me: Ever head of Detroit?

Girl: Oh, is that in Michigan?

So I regaled her with tales of ice-fishing for beavers, and those long winters where we subsided on maple syrup and sanded down rocks to make curling stones.

Incidentally, I did my first year of undergrad at CMU. <---Michigan girl

The fact that it was Vernors tipped me off to a MI tie. Welcome to the club! (Not that I want to ignite a state war as we had on one of the other threads.)

Re: Michigander - I'm in CA now, but I'm a Michigander at heart. I took my Cali-native hubs back to MI to meet the extended family, and my aunt made pot roast with all the trimmings. They don't do pot roast so much out here in CA. He took a bite, leaned over and whispered, "What is this? And do you know how to make it?" See, I think CA cows don't grow the pot-roast bit. They must have been genetically modified to grow tri-tip instead. One of life's little mysteries, I guess.

I think the cows jog, like most everyone else in California.

Now I'm hungry for pot roast!

Real conversation from camp:

Girl: Where are you from?

Me: Michigan.

Girl: Oh, is it nice in Canada? Do you have big cities there?

Me: Ever head of Detroit?

Girl: Oh, is that in Michigan?

So I regaled her with tales of ice-fishing for beavers, and those long winters where we subsided on maple syrup and sanded down rocks to make curling stones.

Heheheheheheheh. Hey, you ever get homesick for Michigan, download Great Lakes Myth Society's debut album. It's really good music, and all with a Michigan slant. I don't like fall around here, with the wet weather and so on; but when I was out in San Diego, that album actually made me nostalgic for a wet Michigan fall.

That probably belongs in the "Video/Art/Music to inspire your writing" thread. That album just whispers to me to write ghost stories about Michigan.